Apparatus for rapidly aging solidfied plastic articles.



DE NABD w. B. YOUNG. APPARATUS FOR RAPIDLY A'GING soummn PLASTICARTICLES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 26, 1911-" 1,294,016. Patented Feb. 11, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEEI l.

DE NARI) W. B. YOUNG, PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO SOAP WORKSEQUIPMENT COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

APPARATUS FOR RAPIDLY AGING SOLIDFIED PLASTIC ARTICLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 11, 1919.

Original application filed January 10, 1916, Serial No. 71,150. Dividedand application filed March 27, 1917, Serial No. 157,636. Divided andthis application filed November 26, 1917. Serial No. 203,918.

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, DE NARD W. B. YOUNG, a citizen of the United States,residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State ofPennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Improved Apparatusfor Rapidly Aging Solidified Plastic Articles, of which the following isa specification, the same being a division of my application seriallynumbered 157,636, :filed March-27, 1917, which'application is a divisionof application Serial Number 71,150, filed Jan. 10,1916, patented Nov.13, 1917, No. 1,246,515. r I

The present invention, broadly stated, relates to improved apparatus forrapidly aging solidified plastic articles and has more particularrelation to the rapidly aging of bars, blocks or cakes of soap and whilethe herein disclosed apparatus is adapted for the rapid aging of othersolidified plastics,

. it is particularly fitted for the aging of what is termed in the tradebar-soap,and for illustrative purposes, the following description willbe restricted thereto.

In the manufacture of bar-soap, as now practised, soap is first molded,then out into slabs and finally cut into elongated bars and placed uponracks-where the soap re mains for days at a time to dry or age, thelength of time depending a great deal upon existing weather conditions.The bars of soap thus dried or aged are then cut into cakes of propersize for commercial use. As thus manufactured, bar-soap is commerciallyunsatisfactory for a number of reasons. For instance, by permitting soapto stand for long periods of time, as above described, it develops asurface efliorescence or formation of fine, white, salt crystals.Further, undue penetration of dryness takes place thus causing shrinkageof soap and resultant loss of weight. Still further, the bars of soapoften become distorted or misshaped through long standing and perfumeused for scenting the soap rapidly exudates. These and otherdisadvantageous results all tend to render the method now practisedexceedingly slow, unsatisfactory and expensive.

This invention has for its principal object to overcome thesedisadvantageous features and provide improved and novel apparatus forthe rapid aging of bar-soap whereby a more commercially valuable productis obtained than is now upon the market, in a much more rapid manner andat considerable less expense.

A further object of the present invention is to provide new and novelapparatus caloulated to automatically discharge, at a predeterminedpoint, the soap as aged. A still further object of the present inventionis to provide at the point of discharge means for causing an endlessconveyer to move at an inclination to an inclined apron whereby bars ofsoap as carried by the conveyer are individually overturned by impingingagainst fixed finger-pieces and caused to fall to the apron. A stillfurther object of the present invention resides in the provision of aguide piece so shaped and arranged as to cause the conveyer to move atan inclination at the point of discharge. A still further object is toprovide such a discharge apparatus as above recited characterized by fewand simple parts, whereby danger of mis-shaping the bar-soap is reducedto a minimum. Other and further objects of the present invention residein the providing of general details of construction and in thearrangement, connection and construction of parts as will hereinaftermore fully appear.

With these and other objects in view the invention consists of theimprovements hereinafter described and finally claimed.

,The nature, characteristic features and scope of the invention will bemore fully iuiderstood from the following description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings forming part hereof and inwhich:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary view in sec tion of the discharge deviceembodying the invention, and

Fig. 2 is an end view thereof.

For the purpose of illustrating my in vention, I have shown in theaccompanying drawin s one form thereof which is at present preferred byme, since the same has been found in practice to give satisfactory andreliable results although it is to be understood that the variousinstrumentalities of In the aging of bar-soap according to the presentinvention, apparatus is employed as fully shown and described in myapplication for Letters Patent serially numbered 71,150 which brieflystated consists of a housing divided into a receiving, a heating and adischarge chamber through which chambers passes an endless conveyerequipped 'W1l3l1 'free swinging hangers for holding the soap. In itspassage through these compartments, the surface of the soap is firstpartially modified, then there is developed a jelly-like investingintegument and then this integument is fixed. The dischargingapparatusabout to be described is located in the dlscharge chamber of the housingabove referred to and is for automatically discharging the bars of soapas provided with the jelly-like investing integument. In the drawings 10designates the discharge chamber of a generally rectangular structure orhousing 11. Movable through said chamber 10 is an endless conveyerprovided with free swinging hangers 0r holders as fully shown anddescribed in my co-pending application travel at an inclination asclearly illustrated in Fig. 1. Sprocket wheels 14-15 mounted upon shafts16-17 carried by the housing 11 are employed for causing thebelt-chains'to travel at said inclination. In order that the soapholders may be bodily shifted to follow the inclined runs of the endlesschain belts,

a pair of fixed spaced guides 18 18 are present. These guides comprisethin, narrow strips positioned between the belt chains 1212 (as clearlyillustrated in Fig. 2) each in the path of travel of a hanger upright 19so that the lower reinforced portion 20 of eachupright may track upon aguide. As shown in Fig. 1, the guides 18-18 substantially paralleltherun of the belt-chains. Connected acrosscompartment 10 is ahorizontal support 21 fixed upon which are a pair of spacedfinger-pieces 22-22, preferably of nvood, having beveled working faces22, which finger-pieces are located in juxtaposition to the inclinedruns of the belt-chains and between the guides 1818, see Fig. 2. Itwillbe understood that these finger-pieces are so positioned that slightclearance is present forthe soap holders in their travel past saidfingerpieces. An inspection of Fig. 2 discloses 'that-th'esefinger-pieces straddlea soap supporting plate 23 of a hanger 13 in itstravel. An apron 24, disposed at an inclination to the inclinedrunsofthe chain belts is present as shown in Fig. 1, the closedcompartment whlch contains a coollng atmosphere belng provided withopenmgs for the passage "therethrough of the apron runs.

In operation the soap-holders or hangers each with a soap-bar 25 thereonmove in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 1 through the coolingatmosphere in compartment 10, the hangers being steadied by the guides18. It will be understood that such soap-bars are moist and are providedwith a thin jelly like investing integument. As each hanger nears theinclined runs of the chain-belts, it gradually changes its positionuntil it reaches the finger-pieces 22 22 at which time it is so inclinedthat the bar of soap being conveyed is standing upon end. The

ends ofthe bar of soap now impinge against the fixed finger-pieces 22-22and as the holder or hanger moves upon its way, the

,bar of soap is caused to overturn and fall upon the apron 24. In thisconnection it is to be noted that a bar of soap is normally held inposition upon a plate 23 of a holder by projections 26 of which thereare two. Thus'until the finger-pieces cause the overturning of a bar ofsoap, displacement thereof is reduced toa minimum even though the runsof the eonveyer be inclined. Since the hanger uprights and plate form asubstantially U-shaped construction, a bar of soap may bereadily'overturned through a hanger as a whole by the finger pieces.

By the above described apparatus, plastic articles, particularlybar-soap, may be automatically discharged for stamping or embossing, forwrapping or for immediate packing. In this connection, it is to beobserved thatthe discharge device reduces to a minimum the possibilityof den'ting or otherwise mutilating the plastic article which is mostimportant, commercially considered.

It will now be apparent that I have devised a novel and useful apparatuswhich embodies the features of advantage enumerated as-desirable in thestatement of the invention andthe above description and while "I have inthe present instance shown and described the preferred embodimentthereof which has been found in practice to give satisfactory andreliable results, it is to be understood that the same is susceptible ofmodification in various particulars without departing from'the spirit orscope of the invention or sacrificing any of its advantages and that Ihave in mind the treating of -plastic articles other than soap.

.What I claim is: '1. Apparatus of the character stated comprising apair of endless belt-chains, a plurality of free swinging hangerssupported therebetween *for the conveyance of plastic articles, meansfor guiding a portion of said belt-chain runs at an inclination to thenormal runs thereof, guides positioned between said belt chains forcausing said hangers to follow in tilted position the line of saidinclined runs and fixed fingers disposed in the path of travel of saidplastic articles for freeing the same from a tilted hanger.

2. Apparatus of the character stated comprising a pair of endlessbelt-chains, a plurality of free swinging, substantially U- shapedhangers supported therebetween for the conveyance of plastic articles,means for guiding a portion of said belt-chain runs at an inclination tothe normal runs thereof, spaced guides positioned between saidbeltchains upon which the hanger bottoms in tilted position travel infollowing the inclined runs of the belt chains and fixed fingers in thepath of travel of and positioned to straddle a hanger bottom and free aplastic article as carried by a tilted hanger.

3. Apparatus of the character stated comprising a pair of endless beltchains, a plurality of free swinging hangers supported therebetween forthe conveyance of plastic articles, pointed elements carried by saidhangers for penetrating said plastic articles to prevent accidentaldisplacement, means for guiding a portion of said belt chains at aninclination to the normal runs thereof, means for causing the hangers intilted position to follow the line of said inclined runs and fixedfingers for freeing a plastic article from its secured position upon atilted hanger. V

4. Apparatus of the character stated comprising a pair of endless beltchains, a plurality of free swinging hangers supported therebetween forthe conveyance of plastic articles, pointed elements carried by saidhangers for penetrating said plastic articles to prevent accidentaldisplacement, means for guiding a portion of said belt chains at Copiesof this patent may be'obtained for five cents each, by addressing the aninclination to the normal runs thereof, means for causing the hangers intilted position to follow the line of said inclined runs and fixedfinger-pieces having beveled working faces for freeing a plastic articlefrom its secured position upon a tilted hanger.

5. In apparatus of the character stated, discharge mechanism embracingin combination a pair of endless belt chains, substantially U-shapedhangers carried by and having free swinging relation between saidchains, which hangers are adapted to carry solidified plastic articles,means for guiding a portion of the chain runs at an inclination to thenormal line thereof, guides paralleling the line of travel of saidinclined runs, the bottoms of the uprights of which U- shaped hangerstravel upon said guides to tilt the hangers to discharging position andfixed fingers operative for freeing an article from a hanger so tilted.

6. Apparatus of the character stated comprising a pair of endless beltchains, a plurality of free swinging holders supported therebetween forthe conveyance of plastic articles, substantially horizontally disposedfixed fingers for freeing a plastic article from a hanger and means fortilting a hanger so that it travels in a plane to intersect the plane ofsaid fingers.

7. Apparatus of the character stated comprising a pair of endless beltchains, a plurality of free swinging holders supported therebetween forthe conveyance of plastic articles, substantially horizontally disposedfixed fingers having beveled working ends for freeing a plastic articlefrom a hanger and means for tilting a hanger so that it travels in aplane to intersect the plane of said fingers.

In. testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name.

DE NARD W. B. YOUNG.

"Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

